[Mexico]

Hi
I've been into photographing birds and wildlife for a while now and just enjoy being out there watching and listening. I like the challenge of stills photography and carry around a rucksack full of bits and pieces. However, sometimes I see something that a photograph cannot do justice to. For example, I can watch dragonflies for hours, but a stills photo, even in flight, just doesn't do it justice, especially when they start fighting in mid air. I am therefore considering getting a camcorder which must fit in my rucksack, so an XL2 isn't an option! I've been looking at camcorders up to about £500 and wondered what others out there are using? It seems if I go HD I am limited on zoom to a maximum of 20x. This may not be enough for small subjects. Macro would be a must. I could go for non HD which can get me optical zooms up to 70x, which sounds amazing! I think sound is important with video and a mic jack would be nice to improve sound quality. What would a good camcorder, maybe with some manual control, be? Any comments appreciated.

Thanks,
Mex